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Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome

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The essential old-school game of fantastic adventure, monsters, and magic — expanded with advanced character options and spells!

Complete Player's Tome

  • This book contains the complete game rules, 13 fantastic classes (acrobat, assassin, barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, illusionist, knight, magic-user, paladin, ranger, thief), 10 classic races (drow, duergar, dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, halfling, half-orc, human, svirfneblin), full equipment lists, and over 200 weird and wonderful spells (complete cleric, druid, illusionist, and magic-user spell lists).
  • Simple rules let imagination and fast-paced action take the spotlight.
  • Clear, modern presentation makes the game easy to learn and quick to reference.
  • Compatible with decades of classic adventures and supplements.

Referees Also Require the Companion Tome

Referees also require the companion book, the Advanced Fantasy Referee’s Tome.

Classic Fantasy or Advanced Fantasy?

Old-School Essentials comes in two flavours: Classic Fantasy (based on the 1981 Basic/Expert rules) and Advanced Fantasy (the same game, massively expanded with content inspired by the 1970s Advanced 1st Edition rules).
This book includes all core rules and player options from the Classic Fantasy Rules Tome, expanded with extra classes, optional rules, and spells.

Deluxe Print Edition

A deluxe, sewn-binding hardcover edition of this book ( + free PDF) is available from Exalted Funeral, along with all of the other books in the Old-School Essentials line.

Note that there is no print-on-demand edition of this book.

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Reviews (4)
Discussions (17)
Customer avatar
JOHN S May 26, 2023 7:21 pm UTC
I saw you did a Foundry verion but didnt want to ask this over there....... any chance you are doing a Roll20 conversion?
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G May 27, 2023 7:57 am UTC
PUBLISHER
It's not something we currently have in the works. (Though who knows in the future.)
Customer avatar
Gary B February 19, 2023 7:56 pm UTC
Am dropping Wizards products after gaming since the 80s. I have your classic set and was planning of going all in on the advanced line but heard there may be a rewrite to update to the new CC license. What will be the changes? I don't want to get a bunch of products and have it all be outdated in a short time. Thanks
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G February 23, 2023 10:33 am UTC
PUBLISHER
The current situation is that we intend to continue reprinting and selling Old-School Essentials in its current form. Depending how things develop over the next year, we may assess moving to the Creative Commons license, and would make the minimum changes possible to accommodate the new license.
Customer avatar
Britt K D February 12, 2023 11:45 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Dear Drive Through RPG, I just created an account because my grown son and I would like to learn and enjoy "Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome." However, it would be very helpful to find an experienced DM (I think that means "Dungeon Master" or "Referee") who really enjoys teaching would like to join us online (e.g., on Roll20). Can you advise how we would find such a person? Thanks!
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Customer avatar
Kris P May 04, 2023 7:59 pm UTC
Hey Britt. Did you find what you needed?
Customer avatar
Alan P December 14, 2022 8:34 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Is my understanding correct?
The Player's Tome and the Referee's Tome are all you need for Advanced-OSE.
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G December 15, 2022 12:02 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Correct.
Customer avatar
Mark M November 29, 2022 12:01 pm UTC
This looks awesome. I played D&D in the early 80s using the box sets and the AD&D books. Right now I’m trying to “re-learn” 5e, which seems so much more complicated than what we used to play. Although I have to admit, the old rules were often complicated and confusing. But we also felt a lot of freedom to improvise and make up our own rules as we went along. My hope is that this adaptation will foster that free form style we used to enjoy.

One of my challenges right now is that I’m playing/learning to play 5e with some Spanish speaking young people. The one kid that has gotten hooked is ten years old. Do you think there will be a Spanish translation of these books?
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G December 02, 2022 10:00 am UTC
PUBLISHER
A Spanish translation of Old-School Essentials is published by https://www.thehillspress.es/.
Customer avatar
Robert O May 11, 2022 2:25 pm UTC
QUESTION FOR NECROTIC GNOME: Is the Advanced Fantasy material 100% compatible with the Classic material? In other words, is the Advanced Fantasy information converted completely for B/X? I am not sure if the Advanced Fantasy books are a different thing altogether or if it is just all the advanced material converted specifically to B/X so that one stays within the B/X framework. Thank you ahead of time for your response.
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G May 12, 2022 8:13 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Yep, Old-School Essentials Classic Fantasy and Advanced Fantasy are 100% compatible. All the additional material in Advanced Fantasy (new classes, spells, monsters, magic items, optional rules) is compatible with the B/X framework.
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Customer avatar
Robert O May 12, 2022 1:25 pm UTC
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I am very glad to hear this. The last thing one would want to do is have another system or have to do a lot of conversions. Awesome!
Customer avatar
David R March 11, 2022 12:13 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Do the advanced rules include weapon specialization and multiple attacks for fighters? Thank you
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G April 04, 2022 5:07 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Weapon specialization is an optional rule, but multiple attacks per round are not featured. The core rules of the game / combat system are still very much grounded in the 1981 B/X edition.
Customer avatar
Jesse M September 04, 2021 2:37 am UTC
Am I missing out on any new content in this book if I have Classic Fantasy Rules Tome, Advanced Fantasy Referee's Tome, AF Genre Rules, and AF Druid and Illusionist spells?
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G September 04, 2021 12:03 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Nope, the Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome includes all the core rules and player options from the Classic Fantasy Rules Tome plus the Advanced Fantasy Genre Rules and Druid and Illusionist Spells supplements.
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Customer avatar
Jesse M September 04, 2021 4:09 pm UTC
Right on, thanks for the reply, Gavin! Cannot wait to run this system with my group!
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Customer avatar
William E April 06, 2022 1:37 am UTC
PURCHASER
If we own the requisite books, is it possible to send an email to receive a code for this version? It would be really nice to have everything together in one book!
Customer avatar
Edward A September 02, 2021 11:17 am UTC
Congratulations on the shipment of OSE Advanced in Necrotic Gnome Gavin! Was so happy to receive my email this morning.

My old school game is powered by Dark Dungeons X. But I think Advanced Labyrinth Lord and Old School Essentials products are "essential" to providing more options to my game. Looking forward to getting my physical books for Advanced. I find myself in the same boat as Aaron W when it comes to the level cap of OSE.
OSE is an amazing product! At my table there is still no OSR game to rule them all.

Still holding out for that Asian suppliment Gavin N. :P

Customer avatar
Aaron W August 25, 2021 8:46 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi Gavin,

What is the story with the higher level spells that were in AD&D? Are they included and just reclassified to lower levels, or are they left out since the advancement doesn't go high enough for clerics and magic users to gain them?
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G August 26, 2021 4:38 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Yeah higher level spells are not included. All of the B/X clone content of OSE Advanced Fantasy (e.g. the cleric and magic-user classes and spells) remains 100% B/X. So classes like those have not been altered or expanded with anything from AD&D. Does that make sense / help?
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Customer avatar
Aaron W August 26, 2021 5:54 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks, yes it does. It gives me a sense that with OSE Advanced there is still a place in this world for the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion. It appears that since it is a sister rule set to OSE it can operate as a decent stand-in/gateway to level 15+ play if people ever actually get there. The only issue I see is that the spell and xp level progressions might be a little off - but that can be derived for the OSE spell caster classes pretty easily if that level of play is that important to a group.
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G August 27, 2021 7:18 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Cool! Yeah, if you want to add extra spells or experience levels you can easily grab stuff from AD&D, Labyrinth Lord, the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, etc. It's all very easy to mix together. (Though, as you say, not many characters ever get to 14th level anyway, so the topic of higher levels tends to be moot.)
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Customer avatar
Mark M November 29, 2022 12:16 pm UTC
I haven’t bought the books yet, so I might be talking out of my XXX, but I did play in the early 80s with AD&D rules. Gavin I comment matches my experiences. Getting to level 15 was not common. However, spell research was not uncommon for higher level spell casters. It was something that the player and DM could work out. It was usually something that happened during downtime, between sessions. “Field testing” and searching for experimental components could happen in-game.
Customer avatar
Richard M August 20, 2021 5:34 am UTC
I would love to buy this in print but it's just not coming. I heard since May that they're just finishing KS fulfillment and they'll be avaliable in EF soon... I wish there was an option where buyers could pre-order the books and get the PDFs now and then get the books later when available. I know I can buy the PDFs separately now but that seems wasteful when the books come with the PDFs anyway. Guess I'll just keep playing B/X...
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G August 20, 2021 7:29 am UTC
PUBLISHER
It'll be available from September 1st, so very soon now! (This was announced in our newsletter last week: https://necroticgnome.com/blogs/newsletter-archive/old-school-essentials-newsletter-launch.)
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Customer avatar
Edward A September 02, 2021 11:23 am UTC
Hey Richard, You can pick up the physical copies right now at Necrotic Gnome.
Customer avatar
Edward A July 12, 2021 6:21 am UTC
I just grabbed a few copies of the Monsters and Treasures books to fill in the gaps of my books. Stone Valley Games has them in stock. They don't have the advanced players and referee books. Just the small ones. Good prices. $15 bucks for the books and a free pdf! Great service also.
I love Exalted Funeral. I count on them to get some real niche one-shots to pepper into my games. But I think Stone Valley is more on top of their game when it comes to stocking OSE products. Maybe it's a distribution issue idk.
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G July 12, 2021 6:38 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Thanks for buying the Monsters and Treasures books -- Stone Valley are great!

Exalted Funeral are the co-publisher of OSE, though, so any stock that Stone Valley have comes via Exalted Funeral ;) We're currently in the process of sending out rewards to people who backed the Advanced Fantasy Kickstarter last year (which includes a few retailers, like Stone Valley). Once all Kickstarter rewards have been sent out to backers, Exalted Funeral will be the main source of the new books.
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Customer avatar
Edward A July 13, 2021 7:28 pm UTC
Thanks for clarifying that for me Gavin!

I missed the Kickstarter. I run a Savage Worlds game also and there were too many Kickstarter at the end of my money. I am starting an OSR campaign, but I was unable to go with OSE due to my players not being able to pick up the books. (distribution even on your other OSE product seems to be sparse)
This niche market is oversaturated with products. And my players count on me to wade through the options and play games that are affordable and available. There is also a good deal of timing involved here. When I announced session zero for the OSR game last week I went with Dark Dungeons X. However I found OSE's Advanced Fantasy Genre rules to be essential to running this game. Players like options when rolling their characters.
I am looking forward to picking up the other books. And I will recommend them to my players. I'm certain we will get mileage out of your product in the future.
Customer avatar
Raynaldo R May 21, 2021 11:41 pm UTC
PURCHASER
So this is an amazing product, and I would love to order several physical versions of this but I can't because it's sold out like everywhere. Please offer a print on demand option soon.
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G May 22, 2021 12:16 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
It'll be back in stock at Exalted Funeral shortly. (It's not actually sold out. They're just doing a warehouse stock count.)
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Customer avatar
Kat J May 25, 2021 1:16 pm UTC
PURCHASER
So there is a paperback or hardback version?
Reply
Customer avatar
Necrotic G May 25, 2021 1:22 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Yep, a deluxe, sewn-binding hardcover edition will be on sale once we've sent out rewards to people who backed our Kickstarter last year. (Estimated June-ish.)
Customer avatar
Mark C April 26, 2021 1:29 am UTC
Does this include the Classic Fantasy Racial Classes like Dwarf, Halfling & Elf?
Reply
Customer avatar
Necrotic G April 26, 2021 7:17 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Yep! All demihuman classes (drow, duergar, dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, halfling, half-orc, svirfneblin) can be played as a racial class or using the optional rules for choosing race and class separately.

(A broader answer is that OSE Advanced Fantasy contains everything from Classic Fantasy, apart from one single page: the guidelines for levels 15-36.)
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Customer avatar
Mark C April 26, 2021 6:49 pm UTC
Thanks!
Customer avatar
David P March 28, 2021 9:51 pm UTC
Is there an all-in-one tome for OSEA?
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Customer avatar
Necrotic G March 29, 2021 6:22 am UTC
PUBLISHER
No, the complete Advanced Fantasy game just has too many pages to fit in a single book, so we split it into the Player's Tome and the Referee's Tome. (Speaking about the print version, of course, which the PDF version mirrors.)
Reply
Customer avatar
David P April 01, 2021 10:03 pm UTC
Thanks, I just ordered the Classic Rules Tome from Exalted Funeral, but it looks like my wishlist is getting bigger.
Customer avatar
David S March 08, 2021 11:05 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Who is the hater who gave this a 2 star rating? Please. Rules, artwork, layout are the gold standard for how to present an RPG. D&D as it was meant to be played.
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Adamantine seller
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248
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File Last Updated:
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This title was added to our catalog on January 28, 2021.